Number 5, April 1998 IN THIS ISSUE... Reap by Jon Soverow Princeton Haikus by Matt Gordon Sunday Brunch by Jenny Yue Road to Spartanburg by Richard Johnston Sympathy for the Devil by Bryan Walsh

REAP There were long, hairy leaves sundown, and George and I thought tilling the fields would fatten mom and dad's oat bran marriage as it had when they first met, although this year we had left the tractors in the rain spring and their rust and chipped red against detained blue clouds. Cool air announced the approach of school we knew as the leaves stiffened, sugary potato chips from deep clay, a call to eternal learning, a friend cut his hand and spoke of how it reminded him of leaves until I asked if it hurt and he recoiled no, no, it terrified me I enjoyed the taste. A man who wanted to make love to a tiger spent months planning his entrance, he leaves, and they have it on tape: how his naked, crazy body on porous, salty cement, how he startled the still, striped cat and how it turned back, afraid of his affection are we sure it's autumn? -- Jon Soverow